PlayStation 4 Announcement: How Do The PS4 Specs Stack Up To The Wii U And Xbox Durango?

On Wednesday evening, Sony staged a highly publicized event in New York to announce its next gaming console, the PlayStation 4. It’s an impressive-looking machine, but how will it stack up to other next-gen consoles?

Perhaps most impressive is the PlayStation 4’s completely unprecedented amount of RAM. The new system will have an amazing 8 gigabytes, 16 times the amount found in a PlayStation 3. Both the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 feature a mere 256 megabytes of RAM, making this a huge jump forward.

The new Wii U has 2 GB, which is an improvement over the last generation, but it may not be able to compete with the PlayStation 4. And it’s not expected that Microsoft’s rumored next console, the Xbox Durango, will be able to provide more RAM.

The upside of this impressive innovation is the PlayStation 4’s background processing ability. Thanks to the console’s huge amount of RAM, players will be able to turn off the system mid-game and pick it up right back where they left off. Players will also be able to download upgrades and new games in the background. The system will even be able to play new games during the downloading process.

So how does the PlayStation 4 stack up to the other next-gen systems? Let’s take a look at the PlayStation 4, the Wii U, and the rumored Xbox “Durango.”

Now, let’s take a look at the specifications for the Nintendo Wii U. It’s a smaller system, built for more casual gamers, so it’s not expected to compete with the heavy-hitting power of the PlayStation 4. Even so, it’s worth examining the differences between the two system. Here are the specs, courtesy of Wikipedia.

So that’s it for the Wii U. It’s a powerful system compared to last generation, but the PlayStation 4 looks like it will blow it out of the water in terms of sheer power.

Finally, we’ll take a look at the coming Xbox console. Nothing official has been announced from Microsoft yet, but most rumors give the console the code name “Durango.” And according to VGLeaks’ claims, it’s going to be a pretty powerful system as well. If the rumors are true, it will rival the PlayStation 4's innovation of 8 GBs of RAM, making this a very close battle between systems.